310 New St Beaufort, SC 29902

Built by plantation owner, Dr. Berners Barnwell Sams in the 1810's, this historic house backs up on the north to Morrall Park, part of Beaufort's original town square. Now known as B.B. Sams House No. 1, it stayed in the Sams family until the current owner purchased in 1997. It is a two story frame house built in the classic Beaufort T-shape and facing south for the prevailing breezes of the Beaufort River. The original servant quarters has been made into a guest cottage. The property has been thoroughly updated with modern conveniences including a gourmet kitchen and comfortable and spacious baths. The main house offers a 1st floor master suite and the main floor consists of a large dining room and living room, an eat-in kitchen and a comfortable den. The second floor offers two bedrooms with ensuite baths. A ground floor basement allows for storage, a TV room and a laundry room. Spacious double verandas and large fenced in gardens offer a perfect setting for entertaining. Steps away, a fully independent guest house with two additional bedrooms, a bathroom, a full kitchen and large living room. The grounds are very private and surrounded by lush landscaping and a wall. One area of the yard offers a brick fire pit. Beautiful nighttime lighting and an irrigation system complete this offering. In 2009 the College of William & Mary's Summer Field School in Architectural History documented the house.
The Sams House has sash sawn framing members. The first floor has secret-nailed pine floorboards. Wood trim throughout the first floor consist of double architraves with quirked Greek moldings. The center hall has a twisted, open-stringer stair with tapered newel and balusters and a round handrail. The fireplace mantels are in the Adam's style. Like many of the Beaufort houses, a two story piazza was added in the mid-nineteenth century. Civil War photographs show a blind parapet that sits atop the piazza.
During the Civil War, the house was a contraband hospital.